Content provided in partnership with

MEXICO

Natural History, Nov, 2000

Butterflies and serpent gods: Rituals of Mexico

EACH YEAR, CENTRAL MEXICO WELCOMES A UNIQUE group of tourists -- some 250 million monarch butterflies. Butterfly enthusiasts from all over the world travel to Michoacan, Mexico, each year to see this beautiful phenomenon.

The monarchs migrate each September from Canada and east of the Rockies. In mid November they arrive at their winter home -- the deep and shady oyamel fir forests at some 10,000 feet above sea level in the mountains of Central Mexico's Michoacan. From December to winter's end, an estimated 100,000,000 butterflies cover every tree. The monarchs congregate with such intensity that the tree's canopy takes on a flaming orange. Fluttering from tree to tree, they fill the air with the noise of their beating wings, turning this usually green area into a bright orange landscape.

Most Popular Articles in Reference: The importance of understanding organizational culture; Credit card attitudes and behaviors of college students; What factors attract foreign direct investment?; Libraries Need Relationship Marketing - mutual interest marketing concept, ...; How to set performance goals: employee reviews are more than annual critiques; More »

In March, they head northeast in search of milkweed plants on which to lay their eggs. The monarchs mate just before leaving Mexico in the second week in March. Then, they begin their trek north back to the US and Canada. Each monarch butterfly makes this journey twice in its short life span of two years. Scientists estimate the migration has been taking place for 40,000 years.

The Mexican government protects most of the monarch's wintering areas. The Transvolcanic Mountains in Mexico have eleven to fourteen known monarch butterfly sites each year. Of these areas, the Mexican government has created eight sanctuaries, and three of these are open year-round to visitors.

CHICHEN -- ITZA

Twice a year, people worldwide come to Chichen Itza, in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, where the serpent god Kukulcan -- or Quetzalcoatl -- "reappears," slithering Down the pyramid of El Castillo's long stairway. In fact, it's Kukulcan's shadow, thanks to Maya astrology and pyramid engineering.

During the fall and spring equinoxes, in March and September, the sun creates a shadow on each of the pyramid's four sides when directly overhead. The shadow of Quetzalcoatl, the Maya feathered serpent god, emerges, descending the building to its base, where it melds with a carved serpent head. This phenomenon has become one of the most spiritual festivals in Mexico.

Chichen Itza -- known as one of the most spiritual spots on earth -- is filled with cosmological symbolism. The pyramid's four sides have 365 steps symbolizing the solar year. Its 52 panels stand for each year in the Maya century and its 18 terraces for the number of months in the religious year. Other highlights include an astronomical observatory, a deep and circular cenote, or sacred well, and the Temple of the Warriors and the group of the 1,000 columns.

Primarily a ceremonial center, Chichen Itza is actually a mixture of two cities: a sixteenth-century Maya city and a Toltec-Maya city that emerged around 1000. El Castillo, also known as the pyramid of Kukulcan, displays a mixture of these two influences, which spanned several hundreds of years of intermittent inhabitation.

MEXICO

Natural History, Nov, 2000

Find Research Guides for:

Find Featured Titles for: Reference

Most Popular Articles in Reference

Most Popular Publications in Reference